[DaniB]

HeyI was just wandering if anyone has any idea... Endo is quite a popular subject here and I know that alot of endo sufferers are diagnosed IBS when all along theyve got endo.Before I was ever diagnosed with IBS (I never knew what it was or ever heard of it) I suspected endo as my godmother has it, Ive also been in hospital for unexplained 'excesive' bleeding the hospital said it may be linked with endo. The problem is now Ive accepted IBS and am trying all diets and medicines to help. I know it takes a long time to find relief of IBS but how can you tell IBS from endo when the symptoms are so similar. But endo is alot more serios and needs to be treated, right? But as said by many before the docs dont know much about either conditions and tell you to go away and try a different drug. Im really confused now. Im not being funny but all the doctors ive seen dont really take much interest in students...one night I had to go to hospital as I collapsed from the pain after 5 hours of waiting and the doctor saw me I mentioned IBS he said oh well in that case you can go home now! He didnt ask me anything else. grrrrAnyway so any ideas on getting a doctor who knows about both conditions??CheersDanixxxxxxxxxxx

 

[kamie]

Dani, I had a hysterectomy back in April. My conditin has been diagnosed as IBS along with gynecology problems.My endo made adhesions from the colon to the ovary and stuck those two together and plasterdthem up to the pelvic musculature.Endo is a serious condition that does need to be tended. It can cause a lot of problems, like fusing your organs together and then you have a traffic jam on a lot of levels.For me my best answers have come from my gastroenterologist, my urologist and my family practitioner.The gynecologist was not much help and I had to throw a bad patient fit to get my surgey.I recently moved and I am in the process of getting all new doctors.I asked my Internal Med doctor this week to give me a referal to a gynecologist who could work with her and she said that gynecologist do their own thing and she rarely gets feed back from them. So evidently my expereince with my gynecologist was not isolated.However, it took the gynecologist to do my surgery so getting to the place of finding my answers took a lot of persistence and effort to keep all doctors communicating.It was an ER doctor, the gastroenterologist (after my colonoscopy) and the Urologist (after a gazillion Urologist tests and machines and catheters) who all wrote memos to the gynecologist recomending that a laproscope would be the correct answer in troubleshooing what was finally recognized as a real medical condition.It took me 5 doctors, one of which I walked out of the offce after the first visit never to return, to get my condition recognized and treated.find a good gastrenterologist who deals with IBS caused by hysterectomies. That was my gastro docs specialty.Ask and talk to their office personell and assistants to get a feel of how the doctor practices medicine.Ask and be persistent.I am currently on a lot of medication to help handle my post hysterectomy problems. Or shall I say, the growing problems that were interupted by having the hysterectomy.I am still troubleshooting my bowel situation 5 months after the surgery.However, I am currently not in the same kind of horrible pain I was living in prior to the surgery.It's a slow process and we have to just keep pushing for our answers.Kamie

 

[denise.bradley]

hi Kamie:Your story sounds so much like mine. I have been so sick esspecially for the past year now. I have dropped 75 pounds. I am being scheduled for an open laparscopy and DC the gyn has warned me that I may come out of the surgery with a hysterctomy. at this point my family doc and I wish that he would. I have done the blood work and the ultra sound and nothing therefore point to endo. they suspect it has attached to my bowel and bladder. I am on constant pain killers and every month I hemorage. I get one week out of a month where I am not in pain. I have been rushed into the emeg quit a bit here lately and I have no trust they just say oh endo don't check me and give me a needle and send me home. My gyn was ripping last trip. He said I should have been examined, and admitted. the pain I was having was the same as labor pains and I was keeping food down in a week. Now to make matters worse the doctors here in Newfoundland are gone on strike whick will push the surgery even longer away. You can't see a doctor only in the emergency room and thats long waits. then the moment they realize you have IBS they just go oh well. theres no justice for us.Denise

 

[ThisBearBites]

Your story reminds me of mine. My problem turned out to be adenomyosis, endo that grow through the uterine wall. Pain I could only compare to labor and very heavy bleeding. At one point life-threatening. I would ask your doctors about this possibility. A hysterectomy is the only good cure. My turn around was amazing!